The present invention relates generally to a tool and, more specifically, pertains to a claw hammer that permits increased withdrawal forces to be applied to nails without damaging the claw portion of the hammer.
Hammers, in one form or another, have been used to accomplish a multitude of different jobs. It is an extremely common tool and, in fact, today, most families own at least one hammer along with one or two screwdrivers and a pair of pliers.
Although there are many different hammer constructions, depending on the use to which the hammer is to be put, by far the most usual hammer owned (and probably the most versatile) is the so-called claw hammer. The claw hammer in its most common form comprises a head with one end adapted for hammering nails or the like and the other end is formed into a bifurcated claw for drawing or removing nails from nail-containing members.
Normally the claw of a claw hammer is curved rearwardly and downwardly to provide good leverage and a rounded pivot or fulcrum for pulling nails out of wood or other materials. The claw is basically in the form of two cantilevered tines, usually with the rearward edges partially sharpened to aid in getting the tines under the head of the nail, to start withdrawing the nail. Unfortunately, this may result in gouging the wood surface. The claw hammer, in one form or another, has been with us in various styles since Roman times. Modern materials have generally improved its performance.
A good claw hammer has a head normally forged from heat-treated steel to improve its ability to withstand rough use. The claw must be quite hard and strong to perform its function without failure. Unfortunately, as the steel becomes harder it becomes more brittle. Because most people normally have only one hammer and this is used indiscriminately for any "hammering" job, the claws are often subject to premature failure due to excessive shocks transmitted to it through the nail-driving end. For example, nail-driving claw hammers have been used for such "hammering" jobs as driving tempered masonry nails or using cold chisels or star drills or the like. The excessive pounding required for these jobs are transmitted to the brittle claw end and have resulted in premature failure of the tines. Of more importance is the fact that simply dropping the hammer has caused the tines to break.
Because of the wide spread popularity of the claw hammer, and its use by persons unfamiliar with the proper handling of a hammer, injuries from the hammer itself have occurred. As noted above, the ends of these tines forming the claw portion are somewhat sharpened. Although a hammer is designed to be held from the far end of the handle, in order to produce maximum leverage and, therefore, maximum force to drive nails, many people carelessly hold the handle at a portion near the hammer head. As can be readily realized, if the hammer strikes a hard surface and bounces back, it will pivot around its handle where the hand grips the handle and possibly cause the sharpened tines to puncture or cut the hand of the user.
As is well known, when drawing nails from wood or other similar materials, a longer lever arm produces a proportionately greater mechanical advantage. As a result, the tines should be as strong as possible so that the force applied to the tines as a result of such mechanical advantage does not shatter the tines when attempting to withdraw a strongly held nail. Strength for the claw tines and long lever arms, according to the prior art construction, required that more and thicker material be used. Practically speaking, this meant that a light weight hammer could not be manufactured with heavy-duty nail-pulling power as failure of the claw tines could easily result. For most practical handy man purposes, a light to moderately heavy hammer, one weighing about a pound, is all that is required and all that most people care to use. Unfortunately, one normally encounters the need for a strong nail pulling hammer even though a light weight hammer is all that is required for driving nails.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an improved claw hammer construction.
Another object of this invention is to provide a claw hammer construction wherein the tines of the claw are provided with additional support.
It is a further and related object to provide a hammer which has claw tines with improved strength without requiring a large increase in weight.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a hammer which eliminates the danger of possible self impalement on its claw tines, even if the hammer is misused.